WASHINGTON -- Moments after making fresh demands that Attorney
General Eric Holder open federal investigations into police shootings of
unarmed black men, a cluster of civil rights activists learned, courtesy
of whispers and a shared e-tablet, that the nation's first black
attorney general was stepping down.

Civil rights leaders, liberal activists and black lawmakers are now
left wondering what effect Holder's impending departure will have
on the high-profile efforts begun on his watch. ''There's
a lot for us to calculate,'' said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who
was meeting with black leaders in Washington.

Holder has been applauded by civil rights and equal rights
activists as the most effective attorney general ever for their causes.

''There has been no greater ally in the fight for
justice, civil rights, equal rights, and voting rights than Attorney
General Holder,'' declared Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of
slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers and a former NAACP national
chairwoman.

But the first black attorney general could be leaving several
things undone as he transitions out:

Possible federal charges in the deaths of black men including
Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Trayvon Martin in Sanford,
Florida.

The November monitoring of congressional and statewide elections
that will take place after the Supreme Court threw out a major
protection in the Voting Rights Act.

And projects he personally promoted such as the reduction of racial
profiling in federal investigations, changes in how federal prosecutors
negotiate sentencing, changes in the death penalty system and efforts to
reduce tensions between local police departments and minority
communities.

''At this critical time for America, we can't afford
to lose momentum on civil rights,'' said Leslie Proll,
director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's Washington Office

For his part, Holder told the Congressional Black Caucus during its
legislative conference on Friday that he plans to keep on pushing voting
rights and civil rights protections while still in office. He has agreed
to stay on until the Senate confirms his replacement, and President
Barack Obama has yet to name that person.

''In the meantime, there remains a great deal to be
done,'' said Holder, who got a standing ovation from the crowd
as he entered the room. ''I have no intention of letting up or
slowing down.''

Despite Holder having informed the White House around Labor Day of
his impending departure, black lawmakers and civil rights activists in
Washington were shocked to find out about his resignation Thursday.

At the National Press Club -- only a few blocks from the Justice
Department -- Sharpton, National Urban League president Marc Morial and
representatives of other groups had joined with Brown's parents to
call for federal charges to brought against the white police officer
that fatally shot him. Morial, Sharpton and others could be seen
whispering to each other and reading the breaking news from an
electronic tablet before Sharpton told the crowd.

On the other side of town, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi
broke the news to the Congressional Black Caucus during one of its
legislative conference sessions, just moments after Holder's work
had been praised. Gasps could be heard in the crowd.
''What?'' one person said into a microphone.

Sharpton and others hope that Obama consults with the civil rights
community before picking Holder's replacement, and Sharpton is
pushing Holder to at least make an announcement on Ferguson before he
leaves office. Advocates for Brown's family want the Justice
Department to take over the criminal investigation of Brown's
shooting death at the hands of Ferguson officer Darren Wilson and
consider federal charges.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has yet to say whether it will
file federal civil rights charges in the Trayvon Martin case against
George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who said he killed
Martin in self-defense in February 2012 and was acquitted in a state
trial. In addition, the department will be monitoring its first
elections in decades that will not have the protections of the most
powerful provision of the Voting Rights Act -- that all or parts of 15
states with a history of discrimination in voting, mainly in the South,
get Washington's approval before changing the way they hold
elections. The Supreme Court threw out that part of the act last year.

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